Daily BrewB.C. town looking at large-scale medical marijuana grow-op
A small town on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast is set to blaze a trail by approving industrial-sized medical marijuana grow-ops.
Sechelt, about two hours northwest of Vancouver by ferry, is mulling a change in zoning laws that would allow a medicinal pot producer to set up a large-scale grow-op in a renovated building in an industrial part of town.
Both the mayor and local police seem to like the idea.
"We don't care if it's a rocket-launching business or a legal medical marijuana growing operation — if somebody approaches us to have some zoning bylaws amended we'll look at them carefully," Mayor John Henderson told the National Post.
The Sechelt RCMP detachment is getting behind the idea.
"It's an initiative that is all about public safety and we're obviously supportive of that," Sgt. Mike McCarthy told The Canadian Press.
"It's the District of Sechelt that initiated this, but from a policing perspective, when a medical marijuana growing operation is in an industrial area, there are fewer risks in terms of illegal entry and such."
CBC reported that district staff came up with the draft bylaw after receiving the application to use the industrial building for a large-scale grow-op. It would allow Health Canada-licensed growers that produce marijuana for multiple users to set up shop in industrial areas.
The Post noted the Sunshine Coast already has Canada's highest concentration of medical pot growing licences, prompted largely by the large number of elderly who live in the area and grow pot to cope with a range of illnesses.
Health Canada's rules governing medical marijuana restrict a single grower to providing enough for only two people, with no more than four growers allowed to work out of the same address.
However, the department, concerned that private medical grow-ops are too vulnerable to pot being diverted or ripped off, is considering changes that would phase out private growing licences and shifting supply to a network of licensed commercial growers.
The federal government previously tried its own hand as a medical-marijuana supplier, contracting Saskatoon-based Prairie Plant Systems to produce pot in an disused underground mine in Flin Flon, Man. Users criticized the product for its poor quality and the operation shut down in 2009, according to CBC News.
Henderson told The Canadian Press the proposed bylaw amendment would take legitimate grow-ops into consideration for zoning purposes.
"The bylaws never contemplated marijuana being legal," he said. "In this case, licensed producers already exist. This is just us saying if a licensed producer wants to create a business in an industrially zoned area, they'll be allowed to."
The district is planning public hearings on the proposal.
Sechelt's proposed bylaw change comes as other B.C. communities are cracking down on medical marijuana growers. The Vancouver suburb of Surrey wants licensed growers to register with the municipality and large-scale growers to move their operations to agricultural areas, the Post reported.
